Cosmonaut lauds India’s space achievements

During his year-long expedition aboard Soyuz TMA-18M, beginning on March 27, 2015,  Kornienko, who was selected by the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) for this mission, said he missed earth, while he was in outer space. “I missed the trees and the sounds of the earth and ended up putting pictures of trees and nature landscapes on the walls to cheer up. I asked the agency to send me tapes of sounds from earth, While working out, I would listen to birds singing, dogs barking or life in a village, instead of music. When Kelly saw this, he asked for more such “earth sounds” which we added to our collection,” recalled the cosmonaut.  

A day at ISS begins at 6 am. “Like a soldier, I would get up at 6 am and go to sleep by 10 pm. We carried out tasks from different  countries and conducted some experiments. Scott, who was a backup crew member for Expedition 23/24 crews, is a good friend. We had to take regular samples, including blood, from each other. You need to have a high level of trust in each other to do that,” said the former military official, who was in the city to participate in Rosatom Festival of Science. 

During Expedition 23/24, Kornienko and fellow Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin participated in a space walk outside ISS, which lasted for six hours and 42 minutes. Recalling the experience, Kornienko said, “When you are out in space, you know that your life depends on yourself.” 

Kornienko, like any youngster, dreamt of becoming a cosmonaut. “My father was a military pilot, who participated in Cosmonaut Rescue Missions. I’ve always wanted to be a cosmonaut. I’m living my dream,” he said. 

The cosmonaut said he was happy to see India’s recent achievements in space. “India’s space programme has a great potential. I wish we could collaborate in future and work together. Cooperation in space programme is productive and countries should be friends and work in sync in this domain,” said Kornienko. 

The cosmonaut, who also visited Koodankulam Atomic Power Plant, said that Russia is considering the use of nuclear powered engines. “A nuclear power propulsion system could propel a spacecraft to Mars in less than two months, when compared to nine months, as is being done now,” he said.